Education

Bio

I was born and raised in Austria and received my undergraduate degree in English and French at the University of Vienna. I also hold an M.A. degree in International Development and Social Change from Clark University, an M.A. degree in Sociology and Women's Studies from Brandeis University, and a Ph.D. degree in Sociology from Brandeis. My teaching and research interests have focused on disadvantaged and underserved populations. At Emmanuel College, I have taught courses such as "Poverty and Social Justice," "Social Class and Inequality," "Theories of Society," "Introduction to Anthropology," and "Crimes against Humanity." I recently developed a course on "Sustainable Development: Paradigms and Policies." I also work with Ph.D. students, reviewing Ph.D. dissertations in their various stages at the United Nations University UNU-Merit, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (the Netherlands).

In my research, I have compared child welfare systems in an international context and studied poverty alleviation policy in the United States. My most recent research focuses on children's participation in child welfare in England, Norway and the U.S. (with Dr. Marit Skivenes, Bergen University, Norway); the educational challenges of the children of migrant farmworkers in the U.S. (with Dr. Janese Free, Emmanuel College), and child welfare practice with immigrant children, youth and families in the U.S. (with Dr. Ilze Earner, Hunter College, and Dr. Elspeth Slayter, Salem State University).

Publications + Presentations

Free, J., Križ, K., & Konecnik, J. (forthcoming in 2014). Harvesting hardships: Educators' views on the challenges of migrant students and their consequences on education. Children and Youth Services Review.

Križ, K., & Skivenes, M. (2011). Child-centric or family focused? A study of child welfare workers' perceptions of ethnic minority children in England and Norway. Child and Family Social Work. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2011.00802.x

Križ, K., & Skivenes, M. (2011). How child welfare workers view their work with racial and ethnic minority families: The United States in contrast to England and Norway. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 1866-1874.

Križ, K., & Skivenes, M. (2010). 'We have very different positions on some issues': How child welfare workers in Norway and England bridge cultural differences when communicating with ethnic minority families. European Journal of Social Work, 13(1), 3-18.

Križ, K., & Skivenes M. (2010). Lost in translation: How child welfare workers in Norway and England experience language difficulties when working with minority ethnic families. British Journal of Social Work, 40 (5), 1353-1367.

Križ, K. & Manandhar, U. (2011). "Tug of war: The gender dynamics of parenting in a bi/transnational Family," pp. 222-232 in Growing up Transnational: Identity and Kinship in a Global Era, edited by May Friedman and Silvia Schultermandl. Toronto: Toronto University Press.

Križ, K. (2011). "Why sociologists should study the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)." Blog for This Week in Sociology: Connecting Your Classroom to the World, edited by Corey Dolgon. Available on-line at http://www.thisweekinsociology.com/?p=526

Slayter, S., & Križ, K. (under review). Transnational parenting among new immigrants in the United States: Implications for family well-being.

Križ, K., & Free., J. (in preparation). Educators' views on the consequences of cultural capital incompatibilities between migrant students and the public school system. (Target journal: Sociology & Social Welfare.)

Križ, K., & Skivenes, M. (2011). Child protection practice with undocumented immigrant families: A view from the United States. Conference of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Tampere, Finland.

Križ, K., & Skivenes, M. (2011). How child protection caseworkers in England, Norway and the United States experience working with minority families. The first European Conference on Social Work and Social Care Research, Oxford University, England.

Križ, K., & Slayter, E. (2011). 'It's not ice to break, it's ice bergs to break': Fear management in child protection work with immigrant families. Society for the Study of Social Work meetings, Tampa.

Križ, K., & Skivenes, M. (2010). What is the value-added of comparative research? Lessons learned from research on child protection case practice with ethnic minority families in Norway and England. Child Welfare Conference, Bergen University College.

Research Focus

I just completed an edited book entitled Child Welfare Systems and Migrant Families, which will be published by Oxford University Press in 2015. Together with my colleague Dr. Ilze Earner, Associate Professor at Hunter College School of Social Work, I co-authored a chapter on child welfare and immigrant families in the United States for this book.